#boycotts

[whatbigotspost]

BOOSTING APRIL 2024 Active boycott notice!!!

Source

[racefortheironthrone]

Hi- er, this is my first-ever writer's strike, how does one not cross a picket line in this context? I know how not to do it with things like Amazon and IRL strikes, but how does it apply to media/streaming?

Hi, this is a great question, because it allows me to write about the difference between honoring a picket line and a boycott. (This is reminding me of the labor history podcast project that's lain fallow in my drafts folder for some time now...) In its simplest formulation, the difference between a picket line and a boycott is that a picket line targets an employer at the point of production (which involves us as workers), whereas a boycott targets an employer at the point of consumption (which involves us as consumers).

So in the case of the WGA strike, this means that at any company that is being struck by the WGA - I've seen Netflix, Amazon, Apple, Disney, Warner Brothers Discovery, NBC, Paramount, and Sony mentioned, but there may be more (check the WGA website and social media for a comprehensive list) - you do not cross a picket line, whether physical or virtual. This means you do not take a meeting with them, even if its a pre-existing project, you do not take phone calls or texts or emails or Slacks from their executives, you do not pitch them on a spec script you've written, and most of all you do not answer any job application.

Because if this strike is like any strike since the dawn of time, you will see the employers put out ads for short-term contracts that will be very lucrative, generally above union scale - because what they're paying for in addition to your labor is you breaking the picket line and damaging the strike - to anyone willing to scab against their fellow workers. GIven that one of the main issues of the WGA are the proliferation of short-term "mini rooms" whereby employers are hiring teams of writers to work overtime for a very short period, to the point where they can only really do the basics (a series outline, some "broken stories," and some scripts) and then have the showrunner redo everything on their lonesome, while not paying writers long-term pay and benefits, I would imagine we're going to see a lot of scab contracts being offered for these mini rooms.

But for most of us, unless we're actively working as writers in Hollywood, most of that isn't going to be particularly relevant to our day-to-day working lives. If you're not a professional or aspiring Hollywood writer, the important thing to remember honoring the picket line doesn't mean the same thing as a boycott. WGA West hasn't called on anyone to stop going to the movies or watching tv/streaming or to cancel their streaming subscriptions or anything like that. If and when that happens, WGA will go to some lengths to publicize that ask - and you should absolutely honor it if you can - so there will be little in the way of ambiguity as to what's going on.

That being said, one of the things that has happened in the past in other strikes is that well-intentioned people get it into their heads to essentially declare wildcat (i.e, unofficial and unsanctioned) boycotts. This kind of stuff comes from a good place, someone wanting to do more to support the cause and wanting to avoid morally contaminating themselves by associating with a struck company, but it can have negative effects on the workers and their unions. Wildcat boycotts can harm workers by reducing back-end pay and benefits they get from shows if that stuff is tied to the show's performance, and wildcat boycotts can hurt unions by damaging negotiations with employers that may or may not be going on.

The important thing to remember with all of this is that the strike is about them, not us. Part of being a good ally is remembering to let the workers' voices be heard first and prioritizing being a good listener and following their lead, rather than prioritizing our feelings.

[nando161mando]

In case anyone else needed a good belly laugh today.

[palestinegenocide]

Take notes starbucks

[thetwistedrope]

with all these subreddits being forced back open, i think that it behooves all of us to not give reddit any traffic while the protest continues.

if subreddits can't be kept private because the CEO wants more traffic, then we shouldn't give the site traffic at all to begin with.

i love the malicious compliance, but also, if the CEO is aiming for traffic, then staying off the site would help to facilitate the malicious part of that compliance.

i have no point here, just thought it was worth mentioning.

[bugboy-behaviour]

BOYCOTT TRADER JOE'S

Currently, Trader Joe's is teaming up with Amazon and Elon Musk to attack workers rights and Unions. We have to show them that this is not acceptable.

PLEASE reblog to spread the word

if someone could add a transcript/captions it would be greatly appreciated!!!

[olive-fics]

-BOYCOTTS ARE NOT A TREND-

If you can ACTIVELY post and scroll on Tumblr, You can ACTIVELY Inform other users about how to SAVE the children and families in Palestine.

WAYS TO STAY UPDATED/HELP.

LIST OF BOYCOTTS: KFC, McDonald’s, Starbucks, Pizza Hut, Dominos, Kit Kat, Burger King, Häagen-Dazs, Costa Coffee, Aroma, Subway, Nestle, Walmart, Hardees, Mars, Pepsi, Coca Cola, Minute Maid, Fanta, Carnation, Smarties, Nerds, Laffy Taffy, SweeTarts, Alpo, Lipton, Tropicana, Dasani, Perrier, Sprite, Twix, Nike, Addidas, Puma, L’Oréal, Estée Lauder, HP, American Eagle, The Body Shop, Tommy Hilfiger, Lancôme, Ralph Lauren, Johnson and Johnson, Chanel, Kyle Cosmetics, Garnier, Olay, Clinique, Urban Decay, Neutrogena, LifeBuoy, Wix, Motorola, Nido, Giorgio Armani, Victoria Secret, Maybelline, NYX, Revlon, Siemens, Skims, Goop, Marks & Spencer, Smartwater, Aveda, Tom Ford, Covergirl, Nesquik, Papa Johns, MAC, The Ordinary, Disney, Bobbi Brown, Honest, Sabra, Nokia, Nido, Walls, Tom Ford Beauty, Summer Fridays, Soda Stream, Ahava, Keter, Strauss, Danone, Tivall, AXA, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Airbnb, TripAdviser…

If you are one that has been purchasing from these companies WHILE KNOWING about the boycott, you are actively supporting Israel.

[newsfromstolenland]

Dozens of Toronto residents are now boycotting Home Hardware due to the company's "engagement" with a specific advertising company that advocates claim "lock out unionized performers." 

In a recent post to a local community Facebook group, one Toronto resident informed other members that the home improvement retailer was one of the companies named on ACTRA's (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) boycott list.

"Did you know that Home Hardware is on a boycott list issued by ACTRA, the union of Canadian performers on TV and film? Why? Because they buy their ads from a company that has locked out unionized performers for the last year in an attempt to break the union," the post reads.

[...]

Other companies listed on the ACTRA lockout include H&R Block, Canadian Tire, Rogers, Wendy's, and Sleep Country.

Full article

Tagging: @allthecanadianpolitics

[aspiringwarriorlibrarian]

This was gonna be just a “please stop demanding mass protests on a date less than a week away” post but frankly the whole idea is unstable. Protests and walkouts need proper organization. They need press releases so people know why there’s a walkout. They need time to gather enough people for the protest to create a serious dent. They need to work with local organizations and put serious effort into disseminating the idea far and wide, not just a Tumblr post being reblogged. If a protest is happening in your area run by another group, pass it around. But unless you’re willing to do a truly tremendous amount of work, this isn’t a good platform to organize a large protest and especially not as rapidly as that. Also stop doing them on weekdays and encouraging people to walk out of their workplaces. Asking people to risk their livelihood is guaranteed to kill a protest before it even begins.

[goblin-thembo]

I've seen several long lists of brands to boycott to support Palestine. So, if you can avoid brands on those lists, go for it.

But I can not emphasize enough how the most important ones to boycott are the ones stated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee, who is a leader in the Boycott/Divestment/Sanctions movement for Palestinian rights.

The entire point of boycotts is that its very focused, and when there are long lists of brands, that focus is scattered and ends up being less effective.

They have an infographic on their instagram that goes into a bit more detail on this, too.

Here's their website:

https://bdsmovement.net/

And their instagram is: @bdsnationalcommittee

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

About boycotts: Making broad statements like, "If you don't boycott this store, you're evil!" Shows privilege.

There are places where the nearest McDonalds is closer than the nearest grocery store. There are places where to buy a certain product in a store instead of on Amazon, a person would need to drive over an hour and spend twice as much on the product itself.

So say a person without reliable transportation gets off work, is absolutely exhausted, and finds out the dinner they planned for the night is expired? Well, they're probably going to opt for a 10 minute walk to McDonalds if the grocery store is 30 minutes away.

And that doesn't make them evil or "anti-Palestine."

So boycott where you can, but don't judge others who might not be able to boycott every store.

[racefortheironthrone]

on: "there is no ethical consumption under capitalism," would you agree to the corollary that: "and there CAN be no ethical consumption under capitalism" or is there some meliorist path towards ethical consumption under capitalism

As a social democrat, I'm very much a believer in "meliorist" solutions and deeply skeptical of the undistributed middle. It is a matter of historical fact that capitalism can function in a number of ethical "registers," and anyone who tells you otherwise is trying to sucker you into pseudo-revolutionary defeatism.

There is a real difference between completely unrestrained dark Satanic mills powered by child labor and slave cotton and a fully-realized social democratic mixed economy, complete with tripartite bargaining and co-determination, economic planning organized through a jobs state and decommodified/nationalized economic sectors including a social democratic welfare state, and a robust regulatory state that can enforce safety and environmental and labor standards at home and abroad - and there are many different points along that spectrum.

My main critique of the whole "ethical consumption under capitalism" thing is that the variant of it that stresses individual consumer behavior is a total fantasy.

It is simply impossible to exert pressure on capitalist systems on your own, or even through ad hoc or single-issue boycott efforts. You need social movements like the National Consumers League that combine mass mobilization with permanent infrastructure, those movements need to be in coalition with the labor movement and civil rights movements, all of them need a regulatory state with the capacity to enforce its will on corporations - and that state needs them as countervailing forces against corporate lobbyists.

[nando161mando]

[palestinegenocide]

PROOF OF BOYCOTTS WORKING!

Another addition to my previous post about boycotts working

Today my local McDonald's were advertising FOUR burgers and fries for the price of only 5.30 $ dollars

A meal used to be about 8-10$

[news4dzhozhar]

It's not a new strategy but with the death of Aaron Bushnell it seems like every talking head on TV is suddenly a psychiatrist. It's dismissive as hell to the sacrifice and extremely patronizing.

[the-lady-maddy]